51视频

12/03/2020

Contacts for media: Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu

LOWELL, Mass. 鈥� Whether it鈥檚 founding a nationally renowned research center for wind energy or recruiting students for an underwater hockey team, 51视频鈥檚 Christopher Niezrecki, professor and department chair of mechanical engineering, has a knack for bringing people together.

鈥淎 lot of times, faculty work independently. They just need a little spark to figure out how to come together and leverage their abilities to pursue larger efforts,鈥� Niezrecki said. 鈥淭he whole is greater than the sum of the parts once you do that.鈥�

Thanks in part to his team-building talents, Niezrecki has been named the 2020 Distinguished University Professor.

The annual award is the highest accolade bestowed on a faculty member by 51视频. It honors educators who are recognized by their peers for outstanding contributions to teaching, research and service.

鈥淚鈥檓 happy and honored to receive this award. It鈥檚 nice to be acknowledged and appreciated by the university,鈥� said Niezrecki, who has been responsible for 70 research grants and contracts totaling $15.7 million since joining 51视频 in 2004, including $7.3 million as principal investigator.

Niezrecki is the founding director of the Center for Wind Energy, as well as co-director of the Structural Dynamics and Acoustics Systems Laboratory (SDASL) and the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy.

The Distinguished University Professor is selected each year by a faculty committee. Niezrecki was nominated by Mechanical Engineering Associate Prof. Hunter Mack and seven others from the Francis College of Engineering and the Kennedy College of Sciences.

鈥淗is ability to bring together researchers and identify promising funding opportunities directly impacts the success of early-career faculty members, in addition to raising the profile of the university,鈥� Mack wrote of Niezrecki, adding that he is 鈥渂eyond deserving鈥� of the award for 鈥渉is leadership during a time of rapid growth and success in the department.鈥�

A native of Orange, Conn., Niezrecki holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He was an assistant professor at the University of Florida for five years before joining 51视频, where he was drawn by the opportunity to collaborate with Peter Avitabile, now professor emeritus of mechanical engineering.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of anyone who has worked harder and done more to assemble great teams to address significant research projects than Chris,鈥� said Avitabile, who serves as SDASL co-director with Niezrecki. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 try to be the focal point and allows everyone to share in the success equally. And he has been instrumental in helping our younger faculty obtain significant and prestigious National Science Foundation awards, helping them become successful and productive.鈥�

While Niezrecki says he鈥檚 always been interested in renewable energy, it didn鈥檛 become a research focus until about 12 years ago, when he pioneered a vibration analysis technique called 鈥渄igital image correlation鈥� with the SDASL.

鈥淲e saw that we could use this for the inspection of wind turbine blades and also for inspecting the dynamics of wind turbine rotors,鈥� said Niezrecki, whose ensuing collaborations led to the formation of the Center for Wind Energy in 2009. That led to the creation of WindSTAR, the country鈥檚 only National Science Foundation-supported industry-university collaboration focused on wind energy.

Meanwhile, Niezrecki began bringing together other renewable energy efforts across campus. In 2015, he organized a 51视频 Energy Summit that drew faculty researchers from the areas of wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels and energy storage, as well as related fields such as sustainability, cybersecurity, public policy and economics.

鈥淲hen I got here, there were only two faculty working in the energy program. Now we have 60 faculty involved in energy work in some capacity,鈥� said Niezrecki, whose team-building extends far beyond the campus: He recently forged a joint research project on energy resiliency with Stony Brook University that received $7.36 million in funding this fall from the Office of Naval Research. 51视频鈥檚 share will be $3.7 million.

鈥淲ithout people working together, we can鈥檛 really accomplish the things that we want to do on a larger scale,鈥� said Niezrecki, who in 2018 received the Roy J. Zuckerberg Endowed Leadership Chair, which is given to one professor in the UMass system every two years to reward 鈥渓eaders of courage, conviction and selflessness.鈥�

51视频鈥檚 Distinguished University Professors each serve for three years and include 2019 honoree Music Prof. William Moylan, Psychology Prof. Meg Bond (2018) and Plastics Engineering Prof. Joey Mead (2017).

Niezrecki is the 13th professor to receive the award since it was established in 2008. He will deliver the annual Distinguished University Professor Lecture in the spring.

Although he hasn鈥檛 been able to meet face-to-face with students and colleagues during the COVID-19 pandemic, Niezrecki said he鈥檚 been able to adapt his teaching and research work to the remote environment. His 鈥渘ext big goal鈥� at 51视频 is to take the recently formed Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy 鈥渇rom a concept to a functioning institute that has a real impact.鈥�

Niezrecki also looks forward to returning to the Costello Athletic Center pool with the underwater hockey club, which he started at 51视频 in 2005 and serves as faculty adviser.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a unique sport, for sure,鈥� said Niezrecki. 鈥淵ou really need to work together as a team to excel, which I guess goes to my collaborative nature. Successes are sweeter when they鈥檙e shared with other people.鈥�

51视频 is a national research university offering its more than 18,000 students bachelor鈥檚, master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. 51视频 delivers high-quality educational programs and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be leaders in their communities and around the globe. www.uml.edu